Movie Production
We’ll help your set designs come true and make sure you meet your ridiculous deadlines for shooting.
PICTURE PERFECT FABRICATION
Faux Real was born and bred from the movie & film industry. We, like many makers in the state Georgia, have made a pretty decent living from the fine folks that decided to shoot their pictures here across the state. We are indeed thankful for that. We also love serving and helping this industry grow by exceeding expectations in this unpredictable marketspace.
Things happen fast. And things are always in flux. Sets can be on hold for weeks at a time, and then, BOOM, it’s off to the races and a deadline has to be met (actors’ schedules are very, very demanding). Construction crews are on site everyday at the crack of dawn, grinding it out to make the unreal, real (do you get our company name yet?).
Those that are valued in the trade are those that can adapt and solve problems with creative solutions to whatever comes their way. And you may not think it, but budgets also have to be met in this industry as well. So part of the creativity is about making things as fake but real as possible (get it? Faux Real?). Each project is an opportunity to level up knowledge and skills as each film presents vastly different settings or ‘moods’ to depict. One show you’re building Bruce Wayne’s ultra expensive mansion in the Hamptons, the next, you’re building environments that are exclusively caverns, caves and catacombs filled with dirt, demons, and human-eating cyclopes.
The location could be in the mountains of Helen, the streets of Downtown Atlanta, on River Street in Savannah, or of course, a 100,000sqft soundstage on a studio lot south of I-285. The movie industry is hot in Hotlanta.
WE’RE HERE TO HELP
Faux Real is here to assist productions in a number of ways. We do like to think of ourselves as ‘a helping hand’ to art departments, construction crews, and set decoration crews. We are here whenever a crew might be in a pinch and can’t hit a deadline and need to outsource a thing or two. We also can help with our CNC machines when a crew doesn’t have the machinery for the project but something comes up that requires the technology to do it right.
Our team members are battle-tested, grizzly veterans of this crazy yet fulfilling industry. Through that experience we can produce just about anything imaginable! We are always up for a challenge and the opportunity to make something truly head-spinning for our clients.
THE ROLE OF CNC ROUTERS IN SET CONSTRUCTION
CNC Machines are used heavily in the film industry today to make the movie magic happen. CNC Machines shine for production companies because they run all day and night without getting tired. Not only are CNC’s good at running non-stop and with efficiency, their precision is very sought after as well.
Scenery created in the movie industry, especially for large budget sci-fi blockbuster movies such as Marvel films, are complex and not readily available for purchase. And to wow the audience at the theaters behind the silver screen, these environments are usually designed to be extremely dynamic and unconventional. CNC machines, and the programmers controlling them like wizards, are able to take designers’ digital visions (i.e. CAD models) and reproduce them almost identically (designers beware: there are always caveats!). Also add in the need to replicate city streets with hundreds upon hundreds of square feet of faux brick, the CNC machines do the work needed to set the stage.
CNC Machines are often the unsung heroes behind the construction of non-linear designs that have to be pulled off at the stage. This can include architectural elements such as a curvilinear wall, or the construction of a custom furniture piece like a stunning lobby desk. The structural members cut on the machines, often called ‘coreblocks’ help define the form of a wall or object and help Propmakers move more quickly through the building process. Usually a file is drafted up, using ‘lead ins’ to accept stick lumber to connect the parts and thus create a frame that can be ‘skinned’ with bendy board or thin plywood to make the face/volume. CNC machines are great at reducing weight of wooden structures as well, easily able to remove unneeded material in the middle of these framing pieces.
Our CNC Routers are not only used for what one might say as mundane tasks and making the same part over and over and over again, they also like to put on the artist’s cap and help our world-class sculptors get a head start on their 3D projects on shows. CNC machines can carve into materials such as foam (styrofoam or high density urethane usually) to define the basic form that a sculptor will take to completion. They also are capable of recreating various textures by going back and forth over the material in many many passes with a ‘ballnose’ cutter.
CNC Machines can be utilized for specialty props as well. They can be used in conjunction with 3D Printers to create custom objects out of plastics, aluminum, and other materials that look like they were a mass-produced object. This works well in creating everyday objects like tablets or elevator call boxes that are from alternate universes. We love making one-off objects like these because we feel like real industrial designers making the next great consumer product (it’s got to look good).
3D Sculpting in the film INDUSTRY
The machines alone cannot produce the sets by themselves, there are many instances where the guided hand of a skilled sculptor is necessary. The talent of the sculptors in the film industry cannot be overstated. We happen to have some of the best in south, as well with countless number of feature films under the belt. Sculptors will do everything from sculpting statues, sculpting earthly landscapes and various textures, or even plastering concrete for applications.
FAUX FINISHES FOOL THE AUDIENCE
Most of what you see in the movies is 9/10 MDF (medium density fiberboard). It’s cheap, and it can be painted to look like just about any other material imaginable. Our master painters can make any surface appear like metal, rusted metal, marble, glass, quartz, ceramic, concrete, even wood (with wood? yes, dont ask why). The painters are also masters at taking objects that were literally created that day and making them appear old and deteriorated. In movie talk, that’s called ‘aging’ an object. We are all very fond of a nice aged object. So much character.
METAL makes an appearance
Sometimes not everything can be fake. Sometimes things acutally have to have some structural integrity. Like when 12 cars are placed on a studio deck of a bridge getting destroyed by monsters. That’s where the metal fab guys/gals come in. They can weld up metal structures like nobodies business. Armatures for large sculptures are also a common occurrence. You can be sure anything coming from us will have the necessary structure to meet all your needs and keep everyone safe.